Samantha and Ronin Faces the Grimm Forces of Remnant
by RemarkableTreat
Summary: Samantha Burrs, a rather unorganized prison shotgunner sergeant, and Ronin Shiyoshi, a loyalist prison specialist, are involved in an accident that causes them to violently teleport to another world while the forces of the Universal Union are trying to get them back.
1. The Duo

_**Earth II; Nova Prospekt**_

When the sun rose from the horizon, it allowed all of the dorm rooms to be illuminated with sunlight. Nearly all except for one. Its small window was covered by a blackened piece of paper with black tape holding it from falling. Underneath it was a desk that had plenty of unfinished paperwork with an ugly looking mess of weapon parts and wire all being baked by the lamp that hovered over it. Along one side of the room, a woman in her late-twenties was hibernating under the warm sheets of her bed while on the other, was an empty, vacant bed as its blankets and pillows were arranged and fixed by a man in his early twenties. The young man bore a dark blue suit with a standard issued camouflaged body armor with padding supporting the arms and legs. He also held a tactical belt with several attached tactical dump pouches and dark energy magazines. The padding on the arms supported several different insignias and the words "Nova Prospekt" embedded into the back of the bullet-resistant dark blue vest, but it was covered by a radio and several more pouches, similar to that of what United States Marines wore. The man walked around the room to pick up his helmet buried in a heap of his partner's regular clothes that weren't washed. The helmet bore a bit of a bad odor, but most people who work here have a mask making the odor invisible. With a mere click on the side of his helmet, the eyes became a bright puke yellow along with a silent radio static. The attachable night vision goggles also lit up. Putting the helmet on, he was ready to work for the day. Except for his older partner. She was still sleeping on the bed without a care in the world. Sighing, he turned towards his older partner and violently shook her face.

"Hey, wake up!"

"No, just... several more minutes."

"Wake up! I don't want to get into any more dilemmas with Overwatch."

"No…."

She took hold of her pillow and roughly placed it on her head, burying it. A slight groan was heard coming from the pillow followed by a childish shriek that was suppressed by the pillow.

"What kind of soldier are you?"

"I-I don't know..."

The young man sighed and walked to the small window, ripping off the makeshift curtain. Next, he grabbed hold of his partner's blanket and ripped it off, making her jump.

"AAArgh!"

"I was generous enough to get your lazy ass your uniform on the table."

"H-hey, I'm just in my underwear here!"

"I do not give. a single. fuck."

Frowning upon her partner's answer, she hurled a pillow at Ronin's face, causing the guard to pick up the pillow and aggressively threw it back.

"Once you're ready, we need to report to Overwatch for our vacant status." he sighed.

"Can we get breakfast?"

"Afterwards. If our sector leader authorizes it."

"Oh, ok."

"Then, a trip to the armory."

* * *

_"Attention, all Nova Prospekt delegates report to block A3 for possible exogen breach."_

An older man in an exaggerated metallic Overwatch Elite uniform with a cape with also the inclusion of a bolt action sniper rifle strapped to his back is standing in front of a large metallic cylinder-shaped machine with several back wires coming out from the summit of it which is connected to other important contraptions along with Overwatch monitors and consoles. Multiple Stalkers were operating along the machine while the trans-human prison guards stood nearby keeping watch. From what he guessed, Overwatch must have been working on a teleportation device, and it was rather a large one. All built and planned because of a woman named Judith Mossman.

"Hmph... Dell would have constructed this in a few days..." mumbled Captain Mundy. "Too bad he's on vacation."

While watching over the machinery, he hears two voices coming from one of the entrances of the large teleportation room. His head swiveled to catch the duo talking to each other.

"Aw, man! They didn't have the protein block I wanted!" Samantha complained.

"Are you really complaining about rations right now?" Ronin snapped as he approached the light blue glass wall that viewed the teleportation room, knocking on it. "You there Leader One?"

The mature elite soldier hastily jogged to the metal door and lever it open with his Kukri.

"The door still malfunctioning?" Ronin asked. "Make sure the Stalk-"

"Affirmative. All devisor units report to block D7 for entry maintenance." the elite interrupted with a strange expression on his face. "Wait, why do you two have so much gear on ya?"

"I had a feeling Ranger One here will cause something to go wrong." Ronin answered.

"Hey!"

"Does the rest of Sweeper and Ranger team members know about this?" Captain Mundy asked.

"Negative." Ronin and Samantha both responded.

Captain Mundy reacted with a little nod and left the room, signaling a few Nova Prospekt prison guards to accompany him. They simply walked to the nearest Overwatch console and stood at its place.

"What's this blue thing?" Samantha asked out of curiosity.

"Dark energy." a nearby prison guard answered.

Samantha tilted her head backward slightly. Her partner right next to her gave her an untroubled face even though it was covered by the mask. Time passed slowly. Prison guards and Stalkers exchanged shifts. The dark energy beam in the cold metal floor sometimes hummed loudly, then quietly. It was nearly so quiet that they could hear other prison guards marching in the hallways of the prison and the rustling of the distribution of Overwatch prisoner pods.

"Ronin... Can we be stationed somewhere else? It's kind of... boring here." the prison shotgunner questioned as her partner is caught standing up with an emotionless look.

"Well, where do you want to be stationed at?"

"Perimeter guard towers."

"Why there? Out of all of the places..."

"It's more entertaining. Like, we can play cards, watch animals fight each other... erm..."

Ronin, though wearing the mask, soulless stared directly at her eyes.

"If we were stationed there, I would trust the Antlions more than you with a modified AR3."

"W-Why?"

"Do I need to answer here? I trust Antlions more because they are predictable. You, on the other hand, it's the opposite."

"What makes me distrustful?"

"It's your conscience and action that makes me have a certain level of-what would be the word?-skepticism. It always causes us to be in situations where it's out of our control, ability. And in the end, I incessantly have to take your responsibility even though you are, the higher authority." Ronin coldly answered.

"Er...well, Ronin I'm sor-"

"Pause, right there alright? It's Sweeper Nine. And give up apologizing."

"Oops, sorry."

While the frustrated prison guard corrected the shotgunner, a human being in a formal suit with several Overwatch Elites along with a woman in a white sweater.

"Trust me, the Breen, the teleportation building that I have been working on is starting to function perfectly this time."

"Are you sure Judith? Last time, we lost several trans-human forces and I had to uncomfortably talk to the Combine about the incident."

"Trust me this time, It will work."

Dr. Breen simply laughed and commanded his men to the position near the prison guard duo.

"Ok, we will run another test again, and hopefully benefit our benefactors."

"How's it going?" the shotgunner asked one of the elite guards showing a smile underneath the mask. The elite guard simply stared down at her with its menacing singular red eye. Her smile quickly vanished.

"Erm..." she squeaked uncomfortably to the staredown.

"Excuse me for my associate's behavior, I will relocate Ranger One for rehabilitation and conditioning." Ronin stated.

The elite guard glanced over him and bent away to stare at Breen.

"Are you really going to wipe my-my memory?" She asked worriedly.

"Affirmative."

"Hahaha... good-good joke there..."

Ronin turned to stare at her with the same energy the elite had from earlier causing her to shrink up in fear. She leaned back to rest on the monitor that was behind them. A small sound emitted but was indifferent to all ears. Judith and several Stalkers near the consoles proceeded to start the teleportation test while Breen stood behind a concealed room with a thick layer of glass.

"Okay, Breen, I am going to teleport this stalker to another teleporter located in the citadel. I have contacted Overwatch soldiers there to determine if the test was a success."

"Alright Judith, but make sure you're in this room with me."

Judith Mossman shook her head in agreement and proceeded to maneuver to the safe room with Breen. The remaining Stalkers in the room stayed at the Overwatch consoles and the soldiers in the room marched in formation overlooking the Stalkers. As the trial began, Judith sees an Overwatch monitor that displayed something red.

"Hey, Breen looks like one of the reactors is not responding well." Judith stated.

The teleportation contraption suddenly sparked a white glowing light that blinded almost everyone and instantly, the Stalkers and the other prison guards began working hastily to turn it off while the elite guards of Breen jogged in front of the wall of glass to protect him. The two prison guards, somewhat panicked as well as Judith Mossman.

"B-Breen, I can't seem to turn this off!" she cried.

The machine then lets out yellow sparks of lightning from the core, making anything melt and scattered if it comes in contact with. The Stalkers nearby were hit, turning into dust or a charred corpse. Watching the demise of the Stalkers terrified Judith, having her to retreat from the monitor. The two prison guards sprinted towards the consoles to cover.

"Judith, watch out for the beams!" Breen remarked.

The lady wearing a white sweater turned to take in multiple electrical spikes randomly striking out at her in her direction. The guards turned to see the terrified woman but kept their ground. One of the elite guards was struck by one of the beams, vaporizing him.

"One down. Harden that position." one of the elite guards commanded.

Ronin, hiding, see his administrator's associate trying to elude the massive resonance cascade-like event that is happening before his eyes. With no hesitation, he sprung out in the open in an attempt to utilize his body to provide cover.

"Ronin, what the hell are you doing?!" Samantha panicked.

"Saving her life!"

The malfunctioning teleportation machine's sparks of lightning grew stronger, and the bright white light that emitted through the room earlier grew larger and more significant. Samantha, observing the growing power in the machine, turned to face towards her partner.

"Ronin, please! Get back here! That's an order!" she cried.

"I object!"

The light now consumed the entire room, allowing the walls stark white. Multiple Stalkers can be heard screaming. Soldiers flatlining. Then there was only darkness. The darkness turned into a tunnel of stretched solar systems and stars all darting past them, finally leading to a white abyss.

* * *

_**Remnant; Vale; Commercial District**_

A flash of white light appears in a dimly lit alleyway at night. When the light dispersed, a prison guard holding a figure in its arms appeared.

"Agh...What the fuck happened?" Ronin thought with his eyesight blurry.

His eyesight slightly cleared, finding out the person that he's holding is now a skeleton. Looking around in the brisk environment, he spots what appears to be a garbage container. He hastily carries the roasted skeleton into it, closing it shut. And then, the guard patted himself down, checking to see if anything was missing. A single piece of equipment gone would be calamitous. Everything was there until he notices a strange smell coming from his belt and his weapon. The dark energy rifle overheated, showing both the chamber and the magazine that was bonded to it glowing a mix of a crimson-orange color. The spare magazines on his belt slightly melted also, presenting them useless. Grunted at the shape of his weapon and reserves, the prison guard quickly ties the grip of the rifle onto his back and chucked the magazines into a nearby lot of trash. Ronin withdrew his sidearm and exited out of the alleyway. He paused a moment.

"Wait a minute. Something's not right..."

Before him, the rows of buildings were not European, rather a different character of architecture. They also seemed to be strangely in top-shaped conditions. The street and sidewalk were finely paved with what seems to be an endless neat line of lampposts illuminating the streets. In all of his liveliness, he has never seen anything so organized, so neat. A single sight of Union activity anywhere would slightly make him a bit calmer, but the absence of that only added to his discomfort. No metal walls, no cameras, no scanner bots, and no checkpoints. Not even a metropolice officer in sight. The sole activity that was present was what looks to be civilians walking out at night who were not wearing the usual standard issued blue clothes. Some civilians stared at him with terror and fled. It wasn't possible he reassured himself that he wasn't hallucinating. If whatever place he was in so hidden away from the watchful eyes of Overwatch to the point where it was able to develop a petite civilization with stores and with people freely walking around with different clothes, then maybe the alien empire wasn't so mighty and all-powerful after all. Not to cite, the shattered moon in the sky. When was the last time he has seen the moon? With so much to take in, his gaze at the view and thoughts lead him right in front of a civilian, who he struck hard into.

"Hey! Watch whe-"

The civilian, who supported dog ears and a tail, stared at the armed, menacing masked man. Seeing him take a step backward in fear. Ronin stared back coldly. It was one of those people he thought. Humanoids with fairly odd characteristics. Nothing new, as he has been working with an empire consisting of thousands of species across multiple galaxies and dimensions.

"Listen, I don't want to get into any trouble-j-just take everything!" the dog faunus yelped in fear, taking out his belongings in his pocket in a flash. Reacting suddenly, Ronin released a barrage of bullets into the man, mostly body shots with a finishing headshot. The animal-human stumbled and fell onto the ground. The prison guard slowly approached the bloodied corpse, using his boot to slightly move his cold hand.

"Civilian sterilized..." Ronin grunted realizing that the now bloodied man wasn't armed.

A white, seemingly metallic, small rectangular device and a wallet were present in his hands. The wallet didn't spark much interest in him as he has seen many of its kind before, but the other item caught his eye. The item possessed an orange diamond, seemingly smacked right in the middle of a visible line which he imagined that it could be accessible. Gripping one side and the other, he separated it, causing a holographic, transparent interface to appear with the user's name on it. It was similar to the dark energy force fields he has seen back at Nova Prospekt but recalled that no Union technology had a type that used holograms before. After observing its functions, he closed the advanced device and place it into one of his pouches along with the wallet and started stealthily strolling down the street in the dark.

* * *

A group of drunk friends was happily walking down the street singing a rhythmic tune or absolute gibberish; either way, they were having the time of their lives. One of them, having bloodshot eyes with a drooping smile catches a glimpse of a white light that flickered at the niche of his eye then died off. Squinting his eyes, he sees a figure against the wall slumped over wearing a strange attire.

"H-Hey guys, look at this." he weakly pointed out with his digit.

With the group crossing the street, they managed to take a good look at the body. It appears to wear a dark blue suit with a standard issued camouflaged padded body armor with the inclusion of tactical dump pouches and insignias placed on the arms. Not to mention the mask bearing dark menacing red eyes.

"He looks dead." one of them commented. "Better report this to the police."

"Hold on, look he's moving."

"Oh, you're right."

True to his word, the figure did move a little, inch by inch, almost reaching for something behind its rear.

"What is he trying to do?!-oh, he's trying to itch him-"

Samantha, without thinking, drew out a large knife from her back and sliced one of the friend's legs, screaming in pain. Terrified, the group dispersed to flee, but did not get far due to their state of inebriation. The intense situation escalated when the scared prison shotgunner stood to her feet and blindly began murder each of the friends one by one, only adding to the shotgunner's terror.

"W-Wait... no... I-I..." she sputtered as she dropped the bloody knife onto the pavement. "Gah!"

She attempted to wipe off her hands on the walls of the building, only increasing the crime scene. Taking in that method didn't work, she tries to flick her hands to remove the blood. The knife she dropped was placed back into her holster.

"Uh..."

"Overwatch, Sweeper Nine reporting in. Status: vigorous." a voice came into play in her radio helmet.

"S-Sweeper Nine? This is Ranger One reporting in. Status: anemic." Samantha responded while dragging the bodies quickly into a nearby rubbish bin.

"Ranger One report location on channel one. Surveying alternative channels for possible delegates."

"Copy that Sweeper Nine."

Realizing that the bodies left a trail of blood in the trash bins, making it obvious, she whistled her way out and walked into another street which was a bit more populated. She was lucky though as the only witnesses that seen the murder were herself and hopefully not anyone hiding in the shadows watching. Samantha's first experience in Remnant was a gory one, but her experience with the city of Vale, in general, was just about the same as Ronin's, only more positive. The view of the structurally, almost perfect row of buildings and lampposts and the absence of Overwatch gave her a feeling of ease. It was instantly better than walking around without worrying about a critical exogen breach or a resistance outbreak. She allowed the night scene to wash over her, ignoring those who are displaying a concerned look at the strange figure walking around with an unusual amount of what they assumed to be weaponry. However, she was ambushed by a shorter muscular man gripping the vest's collar and forcing her into another dimly lit alley. The shotgunner in self-defense elbowed the man in the gut, slightly releasing her granting to catch and grip his arm and throw him onto the cold ground. Her knife was out once more ready to strike but stopped at the peck of a familiar face.

"We should start moving to convert as soon as possible. Too many eyes on me already." he grunted as he rose from the floor, brushing off his uniform and placing his sidearm back into its holster. "Not a single piece of intel on where the fuck I am, and I killed someone. I'm guessing that goes the same for you."

"Yeah.", she quietly blurted out with blood staining her entire vest.

"Rinse it off...Ranger One, do you happen to know what this is?"

Ronin unstraps one of his pouches and pulled the same white device from earlier.

"Not a clue. It's certainly more advanced than any mobile device I've held." she answered interacting the holographic interface when the device turned on. "It's like a tablet."

"In a way."

While the tablet the occupied, he also drew out the wallet from the same pouch. Samantha swiftly snatched the leather item from his hand.

"You have a wallet? I didn't know you had a wallet. I wonder what's in here."

She promptly went through each compartment, only pulling out two interesting features: a plastic identification card and a handful of cards that varied in colors with a strange symbol on it presenting a capital L with two small horizontal capital I centrally located on it.

"This is not your wallet isn't it?" the shotgunner paused when Ronin seized the cards and wallet from her hands, setting them in their original compartment and placing them back into his pouch along with the tablet.

"It's not. It's from the man I killed."

"Oh...oh, dear..."

"Let's start figuring out where we are."

"L-Let's head this way!"

"Do you even know where that direction goes?"

"No, but it's better than doing nothing! Right?"

"Yes, it is. Lead on, then."

The duo worked out of the alleyway and begin to survey the area while avoiding any confrontation. Of course, they would pick out the nearest alleyway or check around the corner in case anyone came along while remaining very close to the wall of the buildings. After passing several meters, Samantha notices a heat signature on her HUD. She closed her fist and raised it in the air, making Ronin stop behind her.

"Halt."

"What is it?" Ronin asked, raising his pistol.

"Reporting possible hostiles inbound. Weapons off safe, prep for contact."

"Affirmative...Glocks don't save safety dumbass."

"Oh...sharing visual."

They quickly stealthily sprinted to another alley to hide what was coming. The pair's HUD displayed heat signatures of multiple men holding red swords walking down a street. Most of the men wore neat black suits, but one stood out in particular. He possessed a white suit, a bowler hat, orange hair, and a cane. They watched as the civilians moved clear out of their way to get into a building near the two prison guards, with the white-suited man leading them. Samantha decided to investigate, looking in the window of the store. She watches the man arguing with what looks to be the owner of the odd shop. She scanned around for any clues to what this place was and found her answer on a very large sign on top of the entrance. It read "_From Dust Till Dawn_".

"Area clear-wait, what the fuck are you doing?" Ronin questioned as he nudged the shotgunner's arm.

"That man is in trouble..." she stated, noticing one of the men collecting some form of powder from a tube while the white-suited man collected odd crystals from the owner while two of the henchman were pointing their weapons at him. "I should..."

"Don't fucking do it. DO NOT." Ronin's voice hardened as he notices Samantha loading the shotgun with more shells.

Samantha steered her head towards him, already knowing how the situation is going to end. Even with the mask on, she could see his serious face telling her not to do it.

"I swear if yo-"

On the spur of the moment, one of the men crashed through the window, followed by a young woman in a reddish dress. Unexpecting such an event, Samantha with her shotgun, and Ronin with his pistol both aimed at the mysterious girl.

"Holy shit!" she called out as she sees the ginormous scythe-like weapon being spun around by the young lady into a battle stance. "How does she carry that?"

"Let's get out of here right now!"

* * *

_**Samantha Burrs**_ -

Codename: Ranger One

Height: 167.64 cm

Age: 26

Position: Prison Guard Shotgunner

Rank: Sergeant

* * *

_**Ronin Shiyoshi**_-

Codename: Sweeper Nine

Height: 172.72 cm

Age: 22

Position: Prison Guard (regular)

Rank: Specialist


	2. Remnant

"Wait, she outnumbered!" Samantha whimpered with sweat collecting inside her mask, loading her shotgun with more shells.

"She can handle this herself so let's get a move on!"

Ignoring her partner, she swiftly got up from her position only to be halted by a firm hand grip on her shoulder. Turning her head towards Ronin, a very serious stare down took place, as even if the masks were on, both could clearly see what they were expressing. A quick, small kick to Ronin's stomach caused him to fall back, with the prison shotgunner seeing a window of opportunity. Withal, the kick was fairly weak and Ronin was up on his feet in a minute as he spotted his older partner attacking one of the robbers. She placed several well-aimed shotgun pellets into him. Another tried to ambush her from behind, but her panicked instinct allowed her to grab the weapon the dead man was wielding and fired it at him without a care in the world. When the henchmen cried in pain, she got out her pistol to lay several rounds into his head to finish him off.

"Two sterilized." she pointed out shaking.

As for the young woman with the giant scythe, she was doing fine as Ronin predicted seeing her defeat the henchmen easily. A word of advice on his HUD spotted two robbers that were about to open fire on him using their unusually large pistol-like weapons. Ronin quickly rolled to the side and flung a knife at one of the men's necks. Gurgling in his own blood, he sprinted towards him, grabbing the knife out of his neck stabbing him in his forehead. The other henchmen placed several rounds of Ronin's back, making him fall onto his knees. He approached forward, not considering that he was still alive as he faced a barrage of pistol rounds to the head as soon as Ronin turned to face him.

"Two contained." Ronin grunted in anger.

Since Samantha was occupied by one of the henchmen, he sprinted towards her, delivering a dropkick to her stomach making her curl onto the frigid floor. Ronin snatched her head off the floor, put his arm around her neck, and held her in a headlock. The sidearm in his spare hand, aimed at the robber's head, released several rounds to finish him.

"What are you doing?" she grunted as she tries to squirm out like a troubled child, shaking her arms in a nonsensical matter.

"We need to move now!" he thundered.

Meanwhile, the orange-haired fellow named Roman Torchwick fired a small projectile out of his cane to create a minor explosion that made the redhead Ruby Rose use the explosive force to parry the attack, but the debris on the street, unfortunately, landed on Ronin's head only provoking and stunning him for a bit releasing Samantha from the headlock. Coughing, she notices that the very queer girl is searching for something. At the niche of her eye, she spots the criminal climbing up a ladder.

"Lady, over there!" she promptly pointed out.

Ruby swiftly pursues Roman, already on the roof of the building preparing for another round of fighting while the shotgunner is right behind her, breathing heavily as she reached the top of the ladder. A Bullhead appeared out of the blue, hitching the criminal a ride.

"An osprey?" she thought.

Roman threw a dust crystal at the duo's feet, causing another explosion to appear as he fired a round from his cane. Luckily, a blonde woman surfaced, summoning a shield protecting Ruby and Samantha from the burst.

"Woah, what is this?" Samantha startled, lowering her shotgun.

She then created several purple projectiles heading to the aircraft. Realizing some sort of advantage, the prison shotgunner sprinted forward towards Roman firing a few shotgun rounds at him, then switching to whatever pistol rounds that were left in the weapon's magazine.

"H-Hey! Glynda is here!" Roman shouted as he limps to the cockpit.

"Trade places. Here you drive."

Shotgun pellets, as well as crystals, pierced the aircraft due to Glynda brewing up a dust storm. The pilot exited the cockpit, facing the blonde summoned a large fireball at her, but defended it with ease due to her shield. The flame combusted from underneath turning the floor into pieces that Glynda used to create a large, sharp spike from using magic while Samantha, unfortunately, was blown away by the force of the discharge knocking her to the ledge of the building. Her shotgun and pistol flew out of her hands, hitting many fire escapes before hitting the pavement.

"H-Hey, I need some help!" she cried out, but Ruby and Glynda were both occupied. Luckily, a hand reached out.

"Roni-"

Ronin grabbed her clinging arms and raised her enough to tie a tactical rope around her waist. And then, he made sure that his partner was connected to him.

"Wait, what are you doi-"

He passed over a swift punch with his free hand to Samantha's temple knocking her out. Ronin looked at the two figures on the roof with him along with those in the aircraft. The guard dropped the shotgunner onto a fire escape. Then, tied a rope into the metal bars of the fire escape and began to rappel down with her unconscious body, of course, adding a strain to the rope due to the weight of the two prison guards. He touched the ground in a few seconds collecting the two fallen weapons nearby that she lost and attaches them onto her suit. The rope was easily undone by his agile hands, granting him a chance to carry his partner into his arms and flee the scene.

"Fucking imbecile..." he murmured as he carried her while activating his night vision goggles.

Both prison guards flew into the darkness of the city, meanwhile, a Bullhead flies away, now focusing on a defeated Ruby Rose and Glynda Goodwitch.

"You're a huntress, right? Can I get your autograph?"

Glynda stared at Ruby with a serious face while scanning the area around her.

"Where did that other person go?"

* * *

**_Somewhere in Vale_**

Samantha woke up violently in a metal chair, spazzing out in a childlike manner.

"Wooozah!? Huh?"

She looks around to find out that she was sitting in the middle of a deteriorating room with walls showing rusted support beams and paint that smells similar to that of decaying Antlion matter. The windows were boarded up hastily showing a lot of spare wooden planks along with a box of bent and discarded nails. Sunlight was able to sink in through small beams, showing the musty dust particles flying around her. The chair that she was sitting on was rusty. It was an odd spot and place to be in, and so, she stood up, realizing that her gear was removed, and began exploring the building. As she walked, the rooms were generally empty except for the ones with wooden shelves and desks. The scattered paper on the floor stuck to her boots, making her peel it off after several minutes. A few more steps and a loud clanging echoes throughout the hallways. Realizing she was not alone, she sweeps her arms in terror and picked a very rusty metal stick, which came from one of the legs of the many desks and chairs around her. Samantha held the stick close to her face and approached the source of the sound. The loud clanging can be picked up again. She came on around the corner and peeked, seeing a figure in a chair with a table surrounded by a pallet of crates. Not for certain who it was, she slowly walked out of her hiding spot still holding the metal object in her hand.

"R-Ronin?!" she thought as she slowly walked towards the figure.

"You're awake."

"How did you know I was there?!"

"Behind you."

Samantha swiveled her head and lowered the metal object to see two Overwatch cameras, focusing on her. The cameras were in a blind spot.

"Cameras?" she questioned.

"Yes, but they are not the best."

"Yeah, I can tell."

The cameras were manufactured out of simple duct tape and a set of wires, with the base of the object being a wooden board nailed into the ceiling. The light it produced was a smashed light bulb. She wrenched her attention to Ronin, who was fidgeting with something that he had at one of the old tables.

"What are you d-doing?" she asked continuing to walk forward.

"Repairing my dark energy rifle. Your stuff is in that crate over there."

Samantha approached the big crate, finding the words Schnee Dust Company embedded into it. Opening it, she sighed with relief that everything that she had was there, including her shotgun.

"I tried my best to remove the blood with a cloth." Ronin openly said. "Also, what was that last night?"

"W-What about it?"

"We were supposed to go covert until we have enough intel! I told you not to do it. You knew it was..." he sighed clenching his fists, then loosened.

"T-That guy was in trou-"

"That is not our fucking problem! We don't even know where the fuck we are and yet you are already starting shit!" Ronin facepalmed in his chair, calming himself. "Those men that we fought, there could be more of them. They could be looking for us now, and yet we are at a disadvantage..."

"Well, at least they're not hard to fight right? Look, there's not even a single scratch on me!"

"That's because I had to stitch it up again with a rusty needle."

"But still, I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"You claim they're not hard to fight right? If we go against three dozen of them right now, it wouldn't be a problem correct?"

"Erm..."

"Look, we are both fortunate that these men are easy to deal with. Just think about what would happen if you're wrong. You could have died. I could have died. If one of us dies, who is going to carry the guilt? It's either going to me or you or both of us...again, you always drag others into situations where it's out of our control." He sighed. "Why am I'm charge..."

Samantha sadly puts on her vest and gear, recounting the many failures that she suffered throughout her career in her mind. In times where it was her fault, her partner would always convince their superiors that it was his negligence, his carelessness that led to many mission failures. She observed as he demoted down the ranks while herself increase in authority. After everything that he has been through, he still latched on.

"Why?" she asked herself in her conscience. "Was it out of pity or something else?"

While in thought, she notices rolled up bits of construction paper hidden away behind the crate. She reaches over and clutched it in her hand using the loose one to sweep away any dust on the sheet. The shotgunner unfolds it, bringing out a roughly sketched out a map. In the rear left corner revealed the big bold words Vale while supporting a red star indicating their location and many others.

Coughing confidently, she asked softly, "Ronin, I-I found something..."

"What is it?" He groaned.

"A map. A map of, uh...Vale."

"Vale?" Ronin stood up from his chair, leaving the rifle on the table, and approached her with a slight interest. He glanced at the map. "No city I've ever heard of."

"So, uh, what do you want do you have in mind?"

"Cover as much ground as possible, change our identities, make sure our location stays hidden, and make sure we are not being targeted." Ronin answered quickly while turning back to the table to put on his mask.

"Wow...ok."

"Overwatch, analyze the subject."

_"Subject analyzed. Unknown layout identified. Local coordinate grid updated. Local sectors generated."_

"There, sector thirteen and fourteen." He points out. "Overwatch, add current location to coordinate grid. Identify site as NOPR."

_"NOPR identified."_

The two spent thirty minutes preparing for the new world that awaited them outside by taking as many materials as possible on their vests.

"Ready?" Ronin sighed.

"Affirmative."

"Copy that. Lead on Ranger One."

* * *

**_Remnant, Vale; Commercial District_**

Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang are casually walking together on the sidewalk, obviously talking about her inaugural day.

"That Weiss Schnee... She was scary." Ruby shivered, remembering her first encounter.

"Don't worry sis, I'm certain you will be friends eventually." Yang laughed. "So, this is where you fought those guys?"

The duo reached the _From Dust Till Dawn_ shop which was covered by police tape and police officers with the addition of a curious crowd. The bodies were still present along with the shattered glass. The crater in the road was being restored.

"I would have taken out these guys as well as Roman easily." Yang chortled. "Wow, you really put a number on them."

"But, I don't remember specifically doing that to them."

"What do you mean? You fought them right?"

"Yes, I did, but I remember there was some other person with me who was wearing this... strange uniform. He did seem friendly."

"Who was this person?"

"I-I don't know, he simply appeared out of nowhere and started to help me. I told Professor Opzin and Glynda about it though it was with us when we were attacking that bullhead."

"Anything else?"

"Uh... Oh, he was wielding a shotgun."

Meanwhile, one of the police officers noticed a strange detail in the bodies.

"Something strange is happening here, Jeremy."

"No shit, Matt. First, a report of a group of bodies found in trash cans, a faunus found dead on the sidewalk, then this?"

"Apparently. The weird thing is, some of this wasn't Torchwick's work."

"What do you mean?"

"Look here." Matt holds up several small metal pebbles in his hand. "I found these inside that faunus fellow. Throughout my whole life, I've never seen anything like it. Have you?"

"Seen wh-wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute." Jeremy rushed over to the nearest body and began plucking at it. "I have."

Jeremy roughly extracts a small object inside the torso. A similar small metal pebble.

"What is happening?" He mumbled to himself. "If Torchwick or his men weren't part of this, then who did?"

* * *

**_Remnant, Vale; Commercial District Sector 13_**

Samantha and Ronin both were hiding in an alley, occasionally peeking out to find out where they are. Their HUD inside their masks allowed them to see anybody's heat signature coming around the corner, an indicator to hide. Stealth was very difficult to do, especially if the day was sunny and warm and the number of people walking around. If they can obtain a grasp of regular clothes, they can pretty much travel anywhere they want. Right now, attention is the last thing they desire.

"Sweeper Nine, marked location five meters."

"Sweeper Nine, closing. Going to take a look."

Ronin checked to find out if anyone was coming, peered his head out of the alley to see what looks to be a large glass windowpane displaying mannequins wearing clothes in a store.

"There." he whispered as he displayed a gesture to come over to his position. "See it?"

"Yeah. Remember the plan?"

"Affirmative." Ronin sighed. "I can't believe you came up with an almost efficient...scheme."

"I know right. You'll thank me later." Samantha smiled slightly while taking off her protective uniform and weapons, only leaving her in an article of nearly skintight greyish blue clothing.

"Hand me your gas mask."

"Huh?"

Ronin snatched the gas mask from her hands, reaching inside to only roughly pull out a small device.

"Y-You broke it!"

"You can fix it later. Also, this is the only way to communicate." He said as he handed her the mask radio. "If anything goes wrong, inform me. I got your six."

Her smile increased and walked out of the alleyway only to be met with a slight cough coming from the radio.

"I believe you're forgetting something."

"What?" She raised her arms up. "Oh."

She turned back to the alleyway for Ronin to hand her the wallet. As she came back to the streets of Vale, she marveled at the new atmosphere that was presented. She could now take in the details of each individual building and lamppost in the sunlight along with the civilians that she passed, who gave a long stare due to how tight her clothes which were a bit revealing. Samantha looked back at the alley seeing a pair of yellow eyes in the dark watching her before approaching the glass door. She drew near the transparent door, giving it a tug before a figure from behind opened it for her.

"You need to push, dear." The manager laughed as the prison guard stared at the interminable rows of attire, ranging from all different clothes and colors that gave her an eyesore.

"I-I'm in the store...", she points out.

"Copy." Ronin responded over the radio. "Try not to fuck up."

"What kind of clothes should I get for you?" She raised her hand to lightly brush the line of soft clothes.

"Civilian clothing."

"So anything huh?" Samantha chuckled. "Ok, then..."

"Get anything that is fucking stupid, I will kill you."

"..."

"Need any help looking for something?" One of the employees asked causing her to slightly jump.

"Y-Yes! Uh...got anything that is cheap?"

"Cheap?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Well, we do have a clearance section... So far no one bought anything from there." He rubbed the back of his head, thinking.

Without any hesitation, Samantha speed-walked past the employee to face the imposing wall of unsold clothes. There were a few that she liked. There was one that was a simple white buttoned ironed shirt with two pockets placed around the breast area along with a striped dark yellow scarf sitting inside the collar. There was one where it was a brown waistcoat with a few patches that were unknown to her. There were a pair of knickers that had holes around the knee area with a black belt covered with plastic spikes. She shed light on multiple layers of the cotton-covered wall, only to find the same results: All the clothes were very odd.

"The white shirt.", she thought as she picked the buttoned shirt with a randomly picked set of beige khaki pants. "Now, Ronin..."

Samantha cleared more layers of attire before finding a gray vest that is very similar to his, only without the militaristic look and more puffier which indicates that the vest was taken in for winter. The weather outside wasn't too tough when she remembered her walk from the alley to the store. At the niche of her eye, she spots a single pair of black cargo pants under a pile of fallen attire that she pushed aside.

"That looks nice."

She wasn't concerned about shoes though due to how the fashion in the footwear section was crazy enough for their military-grade boots to look like regular footwear. With the light bundle of clothes in her arms, she awkwardly approached the cash register, placing the clothes on the counter while handing the cashier a random amount of Lien not knowing how the currency works.

"I would like to buy all of this please!"

"May I see your I.D.?"

"I-I.D.?" She generously sweats. "I-I forgot it at home."

"Are you ok?" The cashier asked as she notices the customer slightly shaking.

"Me? Yeah, I'm alright-I just...I need clothes...It's...for my... friend's birthday."

"... ok... here you go." The cashier suspiciously said as she gave her two bags of clothes.

"Thank you!" She said while speed-walked out the front doorway.

All of the employees exchanged looks at each other after the customer's awkward shopping experience.

* * *

"What the fuck was that?" Ronin shouted. "Why did you sound so suspicious?"

"I-I don't know-maybe because the employee asked me for identification?"

Ronin glared at her with a stare that made her feel really small even though she was taller. Samantha quickly handed him the clothes he would wear as a civilian.

"You chose these?"

"You don't like them?" She asked while taking off her skintight clothing to put on her new clothes. "Er-Can you turn around?"

"I'll accep-"

"TURN AROUND!"

"...this again..." Ronin mumbled turning while changing.

After changing, they fronted each other to see their new look.

"How do I look?" She asked posing.

"Like a civilian."

"You look cool."

"Cool?"

"It's like being called charming...something like that." Samantha scratched her head.

Another staredown commenced.

"Where do we put our stuff?" She asked breaking the silence.

"There are two bags. We each get one."

"Oh...it still won't fit."

"Make it fit." Ronin concluded as he attaches the sidearm holder and knife on his cargo pants. "Let's head out to sector fourteen."

"Ok." She replied as she copied her partner.

The two prison guards were about to head out to Tukson's Book Trade until a set of police cars parked in front of the clothing store.

"Law enforcers." Ronin whispered as he tightly grabbed her arm to walk deeper into the alleyway. "This way."

"Stop holding my arm, please. It hurts."

"My apologies."

The prison guard reached the end of another alley, peeking his head around the corner at the wrong time as one of the two girls collided with his head. Taking in what happened, he roughly grabbed Samantha's arm again and hid behind a garbage dumpster.

"Wh-"

"Shit... Ready weapons." He whispered.

The prison shotgunner nodded as she put her hand on her sidearm.

"Woah!" Yang jumped as she felt the collision on her breast. "Who was that?"

"I don't know."

"Hmph...Hey, we know you're there!" Yang shouted. "Show yourself!"

"They are not coming out Yang."

"I know you are behind that dumpster!" She carried on.

Let down at the mysterious person's responsiveness, Yang slowly approached the garbage dumpster.

"Look, I just want to ta-"

Yang receives a barrage of bullets into her torso from Samantha, making her stumble onto the ground while the two prison guards made a run for it. Ruby rushed towards her slightly injured sister, not knowing how to comfort her.

"YANG, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? SPEAK!"

"Yeah, I'm fine...I'm going to kill that guy...", Yang growled as her eyes turned red and swiftly stood up in anger. "There's two of them! Ruby, get the one with the white hair, I will get the other!"

The duo ran down the alley, looking back to see that the blonde survived the brief incursion followed by a redhead.

"Wait, how is she still alive?..." the prison guard questioned in confusion. "...that's impossible..."

"Ronin, you go left, I go right!"

"Copy that."

"Displace!"

The prison guards split, leaving Ruby pursuing Samantha while Yang pursued Ronin. Samantha knocked down several trash bins and crates hoping to slow her down, but her efforts were worthless as the young redhead aimed her Crescent Rose and hit her in the back. The dust pierced her back, leaving a tainted bloodstain on her fresh white collared shirt. Her belongings in the bag scattered across the floor.

"S-Shit." she grunted as she attempts to crawl towards the end of the alley. She clutches a small device on her belt. "I-I'm hit."

Ruby Rose placed her foot on her back as the rifle trained at her head.

"Why did you shoot my sister, huh? Explain!"

"Wait a minute...you're that girl...from last night." Samantha weakly pointed out, spitting out blood.

"What are you talking about, I...no, are you the that-"

"Helped you kill those men? Yeah. I'm really sorry about this."

Ruby notices the hand gesture made by the mysterious person. A large explosion took place. As it turns out, some of the trash bins that Samantha knocked over had a satchel charge triggered by a detonator which was brought out of her shopping bag. The explosion caught the attention of the police officers and crowd who were at From Dust Til Dawn and the clothes store. It also drew the attention of Yang. Ronin stopped for a second and stared before continuing to run. Later, a few steps forward, a sign of pity fell over him leading to run to his partner's location.

"Ruby!" she shrieked as she ran towards her sister's direction. A few police officers fled to investigate the sudden explosion.

"Holy shit! This is Jeremy, we have a 10-103, 415b."

Yang sprinted through the ash cloud coughing to discover two bodies in the alley. Her sister was caught up against the wall, devoid of life. The mysterious white-haired young woman, nevertheless, was slowly reaching for something: her shotgun. The blonde hastily walked up to her and kicked away the weapon, now holding the odd individual by her collar.

"Who are you!?" Yang asked with anger in her eyes with a free fist aiming at Samantha's bloodied face.

"..."

"Well!?"

"... Yang... Ya-Yang..." a voice cried out.

"Ruby!?" Yang answered, dropping the prison shotgunner back onto the ground. "Are you ok?"

"Yea-Yeah..." Ruby violently coughed.

Knowing that her sister was active, Yang angrily pins Samantha against the wall. She hears multiple police officers heading her direction.

"The police are coming. Don't worry sis', they'll take care of you. As for you..."

Yang slowly raised a fist. With very little strength, she faintly tries to block her hand but failed.

"No..." the prison shotgunner grunted as she prepares for the blow.

A large knife comes out of the pale cloud, impaling the side of her fist. Yang, by surprise, turns to see a heated Ronin, now back in his prison guard uniform, coming at her. She quickly plucked the knife out of her fist to throw it at him, only for the experienced guard to counter it by catching it by its blade, and throwing it back aiming for her body. The blonde's reflex allowed her to dodge the large flying dagger, closing up the attack with a blow to the head followed by an uppercut. Slightly fazed due to the protective helmet and mask, Ronin returns his own wave of jabs, landing a few along the blonde's body and head until she caught one of his arms, placing it under her arm, twisting it to make it immobile. The prison guard tries to halt the barrage of punches with one arm, but was unsuccessful as Yang used her free arm to activate Ember Celica to place several shell rounds into his body and helmet. The front component of his ballistic vest exploded while his helmet and mask shattered like glass. Still not wanting to admit defeat, Ronin dashed towards another one of Yang's jab blocking it to settle for a quick elbow to the head, which led to a quick roundhouse followed by a kick to the chest. Yang fell back in pain to see the mysterious man quickly hovering over her with a stunstick. The prison guard raised his arm to strike her down to be stopped by multiple voices shouting at him from the end of the alley.

"Freeze! Hands up!"

"Don't move! 10-107; 415."

Law enforcement and other services had arrived, forcing him to slowly go on his knees with his hands behind his head. He turns the see the blonde, along with paramedics, comforting what looks to be her redheaded friend. As for Samantha, the shotgunner wasn't doing so well also as she was being dragged away by the police and paramedics.

"There would be another time..." he thought while being handcuffed. "There will be..."

* * *

**_Remnant, Vale; Beacon Academy_**

A man with grayish-white hair and a dashing green scarf was sitting at his desk, quietly sipping his cup of coffee while his assistant, Glynda Goodwitch stood at his side. A notification appeared on his scroll hinting a queer event that befell in the commercial district. He notices and taps on the notification regarding the broad details of the event. An unidentified adult female and a man were arrested for causing a disturbance in the Commercial District is what the headline said. Interested, he scrolls down to find out several photos taken by photographers.

"Glynda, have you seen these kinds of attire before?"

"No."

"Do you know who they are?"

"No. Hmm... White Fang association? Atlesian?"

"Not quite... Look at the man's arms. It's a symbol that I've never seen before."

Glynda leaned over and closely stared to see a slightly burnt yellow and black triangle with strange markings in it on one arm and the other a circle surrounding what looks to be two pointy tongs encasing another circle. She just didn't know what to say.

"A new group of terrorists? Ironwood's secret forces? So many questions." Glynda thought as the solitary thing she can resolve. "But, if it was Ironwood's secret forces it wouldn't make sense as to why he would create such troublesome soldiers?"

"I would like to speak to both of them." He said while analyzing the photos on his scroll.

"These two caused a massive explosion and look, they managed to harm a person! Why do you want to talk to them!?"

"There is something about those two that are...interesting."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

**_Earth II; Nova Prospekt_**

"Contacts lost in block D7. All stabilization and utility teams dispatch to block D7 for investigation and deliverance."

The same older man in an exaggerated metallic Overwatch Elite uniform with a cape with also the inclusion of a bolt action sniper rifle strapped to his back from earlier stood to examine the destroyed, dysfunctional experimental teleportation room with what remained of the prison guard and stalkers littering the room, both investigating and cleaning. Several Overwatch Super Soldier Synths were seen tearing apart the walls and the ceiling searching for any survivors.

"Administrator, we haven't found Judith's body in this room for the past five hours! The energy from the malfunction could have vaporized everything!", Spear Five concluded.

"Keep looking." Dr. Breen commanded.

Captain Mundy took off his helmet and mask and approached a bitter Dr. Breen and the only elite guard that survived.

"Don't worry Doc', they are doin' everything they can."

"Yes, Yes, Yes, I can tell. It's sad to see her perish."

"With all due respect, I don't even think finding your friends body is possible.", Captain Mundy stated.

"What makes you say that?"

The captain pulls out a small tablet from his belt and puts it directly in front of his face. It showed a slowed video feed from one of the cameras during the incident, seeing that before the room burst into a flash of white, one of the prison guards jumped forward to cover Judith until a white beam collided into them, not vaporizing, but slowly fading along with another prison guard.

"So, Judith's body was vaporized..."

"Not vaporized Doc'. Teleported. To somewhere else. I've been working with the Universal Union's distribution of dark energy to know the difference."

"To where?"

"I'm not sure." Captain Mundy sighed, and so places his mask and helmet back on to instruct a command. "Authorization override. Overwatch...dispatch ALL available stabilization, airwatch, utility and civil protection teams to Nova Prospekt. Human and Transhuman."

"Captain Mundy right?-No, it's Leader One-uh...th-that's a lot of units being dispatched-what are you going to do with them?" Dr. Breen nervously asked while Captain Mundy turned to face him.

"Once the teleporter room is fixed again, I'm goin' to do a...search and rescue."

* * *

**_Mr. Mundy -_**

Codename: Elite One

Height: 185.0 cm

Age: 40

Position: Non-Transhuman Overwatch Elite Forces/Retired Mercenary/Marksman

Rank: Captain

* * *

**_Dr. Breen -_**

Codename: Collaborator

Height: 167.64 cm

Age: 42

Position: Serving as Humanity's representative.

Rank: Administrator

* * *

Review Responses:

**_UncleViceakin_**: Wow, I did not expect to get this amazing review on the first chapter. I hope that future chapters that I type will be as good as this one.

**_1(Random Guest)_**: Should have explained it sooner. This is supposed to be an alternate universe.

**_Gerorgy32_:** Thank you for the comment, it may be a long time before the next chapter to be posted due to school reasons and lack of inspiration so expect some chapters to be a bit rusty.


	3. Establishing

_**Remnant, Vale; Vale Police Department**_

_Some moments later..._

A man with grayish-white hair and a dashing green scarf, most known as Professor Ozpin along with Glynda Goodwitch approached the local police station. What has presented in front of them was a standoff, notably a few officers behind a few police cars pointing their dust-powered weapons at the entrance along with one or two law enforcers going in and out to drag out their dead or injured associates. A police officer spots them, watching them walk leisurely.

"Woah, Woah-stop!" Jeremy commanded. "Y-you can't be here right now..."

"Why?" Glynda demanded while Ozpin sipped his styrofoam cup of coffee.

"The-there has been a little a-accident." the officer responded with unease. Glynda and Ozpin assert their eyes past Jeremy to see an injured officer being hauled by another wounded co-worker.

"M-my leg, my leeeg-it hurts so fucking bad!" he screamed as his ally tries to calm him down.

"What happened?" the headmistress asked with a hint of worry.

"So, uh..." Jeremy starts, pointing at Ozpin. "Yo-you're Headmaster Ozpin, right? You-you called us...about wanting to talk to the culprit we arrested...well...he e-escaped...but-but he's in the interrogation room right now under supervision."

"Ah, so if the culprit is in the interrogation room right now, then I would like to have a word with him."

"Oh, no-you can't go in there right now...it's-its..." Jeremy sputtered as he made strong eye contact with the headmaster. The officer breaks it by swiveling his head side to side to see the current situation. He made eye contact again, this time even stronger than the last. "You can talk to him. But you are not going to like what you see there."

Glynda and Ozpin both stared at each other with concern, then changed to a more serious attitude as they approached the department's entrance. Several law enforcers can be heard calling out to them.

"Good luck in there!"

"Wish you the best of luck!"

"Be careful!"

"They are going to die."

The last comment made them froze as the duo stumbled upon a lobby full of dead officers with mostly decapitated heads and missing limbs. Some can even be heard groaning in pain. One officer had a pencil stuck in his eye. One officer had rib bones stuck in his chest. One officer has even his own intestines wrapped tightly around his neck. The headmistress screamed in horror, regurgitating afterward while Ozpin dropped his styrofoam cup of coffee.

"Do I want to talk to this...inhumane man?" the headmaster thought as his associate put a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I going to take a breather."

"Glynda, please stay."

Glynda stares at Opzin, questioning his sanity. After a few more encounters with mutated corpses and roaming the stained halls, they slowly opened the hidden interrogation door to find four policemen, protected in make-shift metal armor, all watching the man behind the glass window handcuffed to a chair which was bolted to the ground staring at the floor. The headmistress glanced at Ozpin, who was in a thinking posture, more commonly a simple handgrip on his chin. He sighs.

"I am going in." he straightens himself as the officers stare with their eyes as big as dinner plates. He knows that he will be called an insane man afterward. "It is clear that I know what he is capable of, so please, calm yourselves."

Ozpin puts his hand on the door handle. Glynda and the four cops nervously sweat in fear. Ozpin turns the handle, opening the door. Glynda and the four cops were drenched in sweat, with the headmistress raising the Disciplinarian and the officers aiming their guns at the ready. The headmaster enters the room quietly, constantly watching the handcuffed man as he closes the door behind him. He spots a table. Ozpin moves the table in front along with a vacant chair that he could rest in. Everything is in order, so he took a seat with his elbows on the table with his hands bonded together. Ozpin's eyes stared directly across the table, noting the amount of blood on his hands and handcuffs as well as the mysterious man's characteristics. Whoever this person was, had messy hair with a brownish-gray tint to it along with strange scarring around the face, however, the headmaster wasn't able to see his face fully due to his slumped position. Ozpin took note that he was a bit muscular and his height was about average. The uniform, the attire that he was wearing interested him the most, as seen pictures from the news from his scroll. The odd, inhumane man looked slightly injured from one of his student's attacks but shrugged it off like it was nothing. The headmaster, right when he moved his lips, heard a slight chuckle from the man.

"So...you are the-uh...i-interrogator?" Ronin coldly expressed. "Don't even try."

Ronin Shiyoshi, the prison guard from _Nova Prospekt_, raised his head to unemotionally stare at Ozpin with a slight frown.

"You already captured me, so might as well end me."

The headmaster scooted his chair backward, due to seeing Ronin's full-fledged face. His eyes were dark violet, surrounded by permanent grim bluish mauve scars with tear-like marks that ran down his eyes down to his neck. Notably, it was glowing a bit of crimson-orange in it, concluding that something cauterized his face. Other than that, he was a simple man with a slight mental problem. The headmaster scooted his chair back into place.

"Hello. I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Now that you know my name and title, I would like to know yours. Please, introduce yourself."

No answer.

"Well, it is not hard to answer a simple question, all I want is to know your name."

Still no answer. The only answer that was present was Ronin's cold dark violet eyes staring back at the headmaster's brown eyes. Ozpin rose from his chair, walking around the table to take a good look at the prison guard's uniform. Luckily, he was still able to make out what was left of his burnt vest.

"Can you...elaborate on these emblems?", the headmaster asked, observing them on Ronin's sleeves.

There was a yellow and black triangle with strange markings in it on one arm and the other a circle surrounding what looks to be two pointy tongs encasing another circle, with the words _Nova Prospekt _beneath it. Same words again.

"..."

Ozpin leaned back to see large lettering on the prison guards' back that was covered by multiple what looked to be spare magazine clips and radios. He reached for them, detaching each one until the large bold yellow words were visible to his eyes.

"What is… _Nova Prospekt_?" he thought to himself as he put the radio on the table.

Thinking about what it meant, his thought was interrupted when Glynda entered the room.

"Sorry for interrupting, but...if he isn't going to say anything...we should try the other culprit."

Ronin moved his eyes towards Glynda, her eyes at Ronin.

"I asked one of the officers where the other prisoner was, and apparently, she is in the hospital."

"Is she awake?"

"No, sir. But she can talk. The injuries she obtained prohibited any other activities that the doctors know of."

"Very well." Ozpin nodded at Glynda, then at Ronin who still emotionlessly stared at the window in front of him. The headmaster then walked back to directly face the prison guard.

Ronin's eyes shift. "After finding out who you are...I would like you and your friend to come to Beacon Academy."

"NO!"

"Why not?"

"After what he did, what you saw, you want to bring him to Beacon Academy?!"

"Take a look at his eyes, Glynda. He is lost. I'm sure he could change if he had a little bit of...guidance."

"G-Guidance?! He's a killing machine!"

"Yes, he is...but it doesn't mean that he is a bad person. If we take him in, the academy could use his killer instincts for good. For future huntsmans." Ozpin merely smiled.

Glynda's jaw dropped. Before she brewed up another argument, a voice between the two teachers came into play. Both teachers faced the mysterious man.

"A place like this could use someone like me. All of the evidence is outside."

"A cold-blooded murderer?" the headmistress blurted back.

"No, a teacher. Clearly everyone I...encountered so far was lacking...training." Ronin heinously answered.

"You're planning something aren't you?"

"No." Ronin smiled slightly at Glynda.

The teacher squinted her eyes.

"Sir, this is a terrible idea."

"He says that he could be an instructor. One in combat." Ozpin disagreed with his headmistress. "But..."

Ozpin turned to face Ronin once more.

"He'll be one after we find who and his friend is."

* * *

_**Remnant, Vale; Vale Hospital & Medical Center**_

The blonde, Yang patiently sits in the lobby, awaiting her sister's status. Yang looks up to see the ceiling television presenting the Vale News Network showcasing the many odd events that took place.

"Good morning citizens of Vale, Lisa Lavender here to report shocking breaking news. The Vale Police Department suffered heavy losses after an arrested individual broke free to lay waste on the police. The surviving officers say that the unknown culprit was the same man responsible for the murders of a group of friends yesterday…"

"What is happening..." Yang sighed, crossing her legs on a bench for a more comfortable position.

A door can be heard opening, along with a familiar voice.

"Yang?" Ruby called out.

"R-Ruby?!" Yang runs up to her sister, hugging her. "Thank god, you are alright!"

"Yeah..." Ruby shrugged as she moved her arm around. "Um...you're crushing me..."

"Oops, sorry." Yang realized, releasing her slightly.

A happy reunion took place. Ruby stared at her sister's golden eyes, only to be moved by a familiar figure in the distance behind her

"Professor Ozpin?" She questioned his presence as Yang turned to see the headmaster and his headmistress.

"Ah, hello Ruby. It's nice to see that you are all right after what happened." Ozpin commented.

"What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, we and our new acquaintance is visiting a friend."

"New acquaintance? Who is i-" the sisters paused to see who was behind the two teachers.

Ronin Shiyoshi. The criminal. The terrorist. In handcuffs. Yang's eyes lit up bright red, stomping up to him to grab him by the burnt collar.

"You have a lot of nerves showing your face here!" the blonde shouted.

The prison guard simply moved his head down to observe the blonde's hand. A bewildered expression appeared on his scarred face.

"Your hand healed..." Ronin unemotionally muttered.

"So what?" Yang retorted back.

"Fascinating...and you." he stared at the redhead. "You recovered...strangely quick."

The redhead stuck her tongue out. Ronin scoffed, tilting his head to the blonde again.

"It's a pleasure seeing you again. I was hoping your...animosity is able to gain us another conflict in which I would come out victorious."

Ronin's overall ego is something Yang didn't like. She lands a solid on his face.

"Ouch." Ronin shook his head trying to wear off the punch as Glynda confronted Yang.

Yang growled and prepared another punch until Ozpin stepped in.

"Ms. Yang, I believe that is enough..." he gently lowered the blonde's arm. "We have to get going now."

* * *

Samantha, a young woman sitting in a cot, is slurping away a low-calorie yogurt.

The room was silent. Almost dead silent. The only noise that could be heard is the machines that whirred around her, constantly emitting humming and buzzing sounds. She tapped her finger, listening to the almost existent tune the machines were making, only to stop a few minutes after to take another bite of her yogurt. She almost forgot that a fan was near her, due to the audible spiraling fan blades that were muffled by the machines. She thought that her silky-like white hair was gently swaying from the outside breeze, realizing that the window was closed covered by a padded curtain only allowing some sunlight to shine through. Samantha looked around to see the same wall of cabinets and the bland generic color palette that stained the room. Same old white tiling splattered on the floor with a clean crisp of beige painting the walls. If anything that was to be involved with the hospital was removed, any sense of direction would be lost. She took another bite.

A knock was heard. Samantha weakly straightens her posture on the bed. A grayish-white haired man with a green scarf, a weighty blonde lady, and a nurse carrying a box appeared in front of her. Silence. Samantha's xanthic eyes met with the duo's eyes and awkwardly stood still, placing the yogurt in her lap. Professor Ozpin spots a metal chair. He grabs a hold of it, placing it at the prison shotgunner's side. Samantha's eyes became more focused on the mysterious man, crossing his hands together on the flat spine of the chair, observing her. The awkward silence longed. Then, the silence is broken.

"Uh...hi?" the shotgunner said slowly, waving her hand.

"Hello. I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy and this is my associate Glynda Goodwitch." he introduced himself while the headmistress nodded her head. "I believe these are yours. Hopefully, the police have gathered everything they assumed to be yours, so if anything is missing, let me know."

The nurse hands her the box and scurries away to another room. Samantha slowly opened the somewhat large cardboard box to see her paid civilian clothes she wore on the left side and her prison shotgunner uniform on the left. Instantly, she burrows through her uniform, sighing that everything was still intact. Samantha turned to eye Ozpin with energy.

"Thank you." she smiled.

"Your welcome...speaking about the police, your friend did quite a...quite a number on them."

"...?"

"Your friend was being detained until he somehow broke free from them and managed to...put a decline in our officers. Luckily, he is constrained."

"R-Ronin?" Samantha blurted out.

"So, his name is Ronin? Am I correct?" Ozpin said, digesting this new information.

"Yea-" she paused, realizing her mistake.

"Hm?"

"..."

"What is it?" Ozpin asked, seeing the blank expression on her face.

Ozpin notices the prison shotgunner's eyes averting towards Ronin, who is silently standing in the door frame, expressing a chilling stare at Samantha. Both slightly jumped except Samantha who was sweating excessively.

Ronin's look was something that Samantha was all too familiar with. She automatically knew she was in hot water.

"Excuse me, I know I was supposed to wait, but I couldn't control my patience to see my associate." Ronin slowly said. "How about this? We will answer all of your questions if you just leave us for a moment."

Glynda eyed Ozpin, knowing what something was not right. Ozpin knew this from the sudden unsettling tone that plagued across the room. However, a brief private moment between the two strangers for answers was an agreement that couldn't be turned down.

"All...alright. I will leave you two be, then answers." Ozpin nodded signaling Glynda to release Ronin from the handcuffs.

"See you in a bit." Ronin said while rubbing his wrists for agitation.

As the prison guard was about to close the door, Glynda halted the door and looked at him with antipathy.

"Don't try anything." she spoke before allowing the door to close completely.

Finally alone, Ronin's violet eyes pierced Samantha's eyes with fear. The prison guard took several slow steps to her side with his hands on the bed handle. He slowly leans forward while she slowly leaned backward.

Fear.

"How are you doing?"

"G-goo-good..." Samantha whimpered as she straightened her posture. "I'm feel-feeling great. I-It's nice to see you."

"Good." Ronin grinned, while slowly pulling up a chair beside him.

Samantha calms down, slightly fixing her posture. She quickly glanced at his vest and whatever was left of his gas mask, seeing the burnt bottom half hanging down his neck.

"Eh...wow, you look like shit."

"I'm not the one in the cot."

The shotgunner looked down, thinking about what to talk about next.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saving me."

"That little debacle back there? If the girl got ahold of you, you would have been seriously injured or dead. Not to mention the police."

"..."

"And you had to blurt out my name. It was on terms and conditions on the application, Samantha! It's obvious that you didn't fucking read it! If an enemy interrogates you-"

"Say nothing-endure the torture-and die, right?" Samantha finished the sentence. "...that is your name though..."

"It's not. It's Swe-"

"That's your name at work. What about when you come home, back to the dorm?"

"It's still Sweeper Nine."

"Okay, RONIN." Samantha chuckled as she twirled her spoon in the yogurt.

A long silence falls before them.

"So, Nines. What are we going to do now?"

"Why are you making me choose the decisions? You're ranks higher than me." Ronin scoffed.

"...the people out there...uh,"

"Ozpin?"

"Yeah, Ozpin! Maybe we can form an alliance and then we could use them to create a dark energy reactor that creates a portal to our main forces on Earth!"

Samantha nodded her head in pride and confidence. Ronin, on the other hand, smiled, but slightly frowned.

"That sounds great, but how are you going to execute it? We have no way of getting dark energy, and I believe this...civilization...hasn't had the technology to do so."

"Well, we can teach them how to build Combine technology."

"I hate that word."

"What? Combine?"

"Yes."

"W-Why?"

"It's a term created by proletarians, and yet, the people we work for adopted it."

"To be honest, it sounds better than the Universal Union. C'mon, doesn't Combine Soldier sound better other than Union Soldier?"

"Agh-I can't argue with that one. Alright, we'll go with your plan, but if that goes sideways, we move on to my plan."

"What's your plan?"

Ronin glared at the shotgunner with somber as he reached for something in one of his burnt pouches.

"Can you move your legs?"

"Uh...slightly."

"That's good enough." Ronin said as he stabbed Samantha in the leg.

"OW, WHAT THE HELL!?"

"Suck it up. It's only a 3cc stim boost."

"At least tell me in advance..." Samantha pouted as she began to have full control of her legs again.

"Change your clothes."

"Uh, which one the civilian or the uniform."

"Civilian for now."

"What happened to your clothes?"

"The fucking sorcerer has it." Ronin rubbed the back of his head. "And my weapons..."

Samantha slid out of the cot and got dressed while the prison guard grabbed the box to put in whatever that was burnt on his uniform except for his vest.

"Alright. Let's do this!" she roared.

Ronin jokingly saluted, then opened the door to meet Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch again.

"Ah, you can walk now. That's good." Opzin stated, smiling.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fit as a fiddle!" Samantha replied, slightly hitting the area where she got stabbed on.

"Oh my god, suck it up..." Ronin mumbled.

* * *

_**Earth II; Nova Prospekt Hangar Bay One**_

"Attention all stabilization teams. Experimental teleportation procedures commence in five. Prepare for temporary off-world assignments."

A man can be seen walking on a raised gritted platform with a cup of coffee on one hand and a thick clipboard on the other. He takes a large sip and glances at the clipboard, then what lies below him. He grins in joy.

"Everythin' seems to be in order..." Captain Mundy delightedly said.

A lone unmasked officer approaches the elite marksman, with a concerned look.

"Hey...Elite One...uh...I'm sure that you don't need that many soldiers."

"What do you mean?"

"W-What do you mean? Mundy, you amassed several hundred legions of soldiers just so you can find two of your best friends."

"Is that a problem?" Captain Mundy smiled menacingly.

"No-well yes, my guys are being killed every day from external for-"

Captain Mundy drew his revolver and fired at his head, causing a loud flatline sound in which the body went over the rails and fell into a sea of soldiers that were all waiting Mundy's command.

"Can someone clean that up?" Mundy asked as he leaned his head over the rails.

He then reached for his mask that was attached to his belt and activated the transmissions to his transhuman and human soldiers.

"H-Hello? Is this thing on?"

Mundy received a million loud earfuls of responses from the soldiers, as well as clicks and grunting sounds from the synths.

"Woah woah woah, jesus christ okay! I'll just start now." Captain Mundy cringed, then cleared his throat.

"Alright. All of you are probably wondering why we are here. Why all of us are assembled here...We are here because it is a new dawn for the Universal Union stationed on Earth. We are here to prove our benefactors that we are a worthy asset, loyal to their cause. This journey that we will bear will not dwindle, but only strengthen our purpose in the Union, an-okay let's start this already. Overwatch, begin experimental teleportation procedures. All units code reminder: Assemble-Sacrifice-Observe."

He received a million loud earfuls of responses of affirmatives.

"Agh!"

Captain Mundy stepped down from the raised platform to see a few meters away from him were hundreds of large Combine teleportation platforms in a single row, all being operated by workers and a few stalkers. The bright blue, mechanical arms, parallel, all pointed to the middle forming a large bright greenish-blue orb. He tightened his gloves and walked to the Elite team, sometimes glancing at the twenty-four thousand, one hundred and forty meters of waves of teams that are entering the portal into the unknown. Mundy positioned himself in front of his team, only for one of them to nudge him with the muzzle of their dark energy rifle.

"Yes, Elite Two. What is the issue?" he asked.

"Well, Elite One...I-I just have a bad feeling about this. This plan of yours...it sounds like a lot of trial and error. I do expect most to not return, but what if all of this was for nothing? We don't even know if your two friends are alive. " Elite Two whispered.

"Just have faith."

The rest of the Elite team groaned. After several hours of waiting, they finally approached the teleportation platform. Standing in tight formation, Mundy begins to hear multiple loud alarms and the sparks of dark energy surrounding them, slightly forming into a greenish-blue tint. He takes a deep breath in and out. Now, he and his team felt very cold. The Overwatch workers and stalkers that stood once before them now only became faith outlines as they began to see gas giants and asteroid belts.

* * *

_**LOCATION UNKNOWN**_

"CALL CONTACT: ANONYMOUS PARASITICS, BEARING FORTY DEGREES!"

"ALL UNITS FORM A PERIMETER. AVOID INFESTATION."

"COPY THAT."

It was a rather bright and sunny day for Delta team. The birds were chirping, the trees swaying with their leaves gently floating towards the soft, ever smooth silk grass. The forest was similar to the ones back on Earth, but more a beautiful sight to behold. They form a tight circle, aiming their energy rifles at their new mysterious threat. The Overwatch soldiers were quite curious at its structure. It was a rather small blue mass with canine features on it. Whatever these things were, they fully surrounded them in massive numbers in no time. One of them made a sound:

"Dogoo!"

Delta One looked at the creature. It seemed harmless. The team leader made a decision.

"All units, suppress."

* * *

_**LOCATION UNKNOWN TWO**_

"Ugh...Overwatch...all units report in." Spear One blurted out.

"Spear Five, reporting in."

"Spear Three, checking in."

"All units, halt. I have you all on my radar. Assemble."

It was a calm day for Spear Team. They were in the middle of vast grassy plains, with patches of forest here and there, and the snow-capped distant mountains that seemed so close yet so far.

"Spear One...erm...did we teleport somewhere else on Earth?"

"Negative, Spear Ten. No sign of Xenian wildlife anywhere..." Spear One concluded as he observed his HUD radar. "Strange..."

"It is strange..." Spear Five added. "Look. No flora on Earth looks this stable. It's giving me a bad feeling."

While the team observed their new beautifully strange environment, the team leader noticed something.

"All units heads up, we have new contacts bearing two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Sharing visuals."

Spear One calmly signals his two of his men forward to investigate potential opponents while the rest standby. The two marched up the hill, prone themselves on the ridge overlooking what is happening. Spear Six, with one hand gripping the trigger, lets go from the forestock of his rifle, allowing a small gesture to be made.

"Get over here. Quick." he whispered. "Look at this..."

Spear One nodded and signaled the rest of his team to silently march to the hill's ridge where they prone themselves to see the unusually odd event that was happening beforehand. It was a man in a strange green attire with a sword in his hand being chased by a giant green toad while a woman in a seemingly blue dress was rambling about something.

"Erm...you know...I've been to Xen, but I've never seen anything like this before, commander...Do we intervene?" Spear Three blurted out.

The rest of the team turned their heads to see Spear One, waiting for a response.

"Negative, that's their own problem. Elite One's procedures are our top priority. Let's move, code ghost." he responded as he saw the blue lady being eaten by a giant green toad.

* * *

_**Remnant, Vale; Beacon Academy**_

The ride inside the Bullhead was rather short but long enough to where Professor Ozpin and Ronin could carry out a conversation.

"So...I would be a combat teacher?" Ronin recalled.

"Yes, you would. You would be working alongside Glynda here." Ozpin responded, in which Ronin looked over to see the headmistress glaring at him with distrust. "It would be pleasant if you could work with Glynda here peacefully."

"Don't worry sir, I can constrain myself." Ronin snickered at Glynda. She slightly murmured in anger.

While the prison guard and the headmistress had a staredown, a concerned woman opened her mouth to break the silence.

"Uh...if he's a teacher where do I-"

"Ozpin sir, she would be compatible in the janitorial department." Ronin interrupted pointing at her.

"W-What?" the shotgunner opened her eyes.

"Now Ronin, there is no need for-" Ozpin said while being interrupted.

"Look sir, but I know her way more than you do. It would be best if-"

"Mr. Ronin, if you please we will discuss more on you and your partner's situation in my office."

Ronin understood and stayed silent while eyeing Samantha. He noticed the bullhead was changing its altitude indicating it was about to land. The four exited the aircraft, onto the landing platform, and headed down to the professor's office.

"So...this is Beacon Academy...I have to say it looks nice." Ronin commented as he walked at Ozpin's side. "I say, it looks a lot better back….home."

"Yeah, I'll say! This looks somewhat better than the Citadel." Samantha exclaimed as she looked at the tall looming tower with Glynda tailing behind her, raising an eyebrow.

"Citadel?" Glynda mentally questioned.

Ronin quickly turned around to stare at Samantha, who halted at the sudden response.

"W-What?"

"I...partially agree." Ronin spoke softly.

Beacon Academy is rather glorious in architecture and appearance. Nice bright green healthy plants, large clean fountains, the white arches closing to the great white castle-like structure before them. It was very lively too. Everywhere you looked, you could probably find a scholar lounging around. Inside was even somewhat more impressive, reminding him of the pre-war polished European hallways. The group gathered into the somewhat simple compact elevator.

"Hey, it's just like Breen's wild ride right?" Samantha whispered to Ronin as the elevator ascended into Professor Ozpin's main office.

"Quiet." Ronin aggressively whispered.

The two prison guards calmly walked out of the elevator, and out of curiosity, Samantha walked to the large glass window that overlooked Beacon Academy as well as Emerald Forest. While she was in a trance from the view, Glynda performed an overexaggerating cough, hinting towards her unusual behavior. Samantha looked back to see Ronin and Ozpin sitting on an office chair, while Glynda stood over her, impatiently tapping her shoe.

"Er...sorry." The shotgunner whimpered as she grabbed an unoccupied chair and placed it next to her partner, sitting awkwardly.

With both prison guards in front of him, Ozpin carefully studied them, eyeing them to their every detail. Ozpin began to speak.

"So Ronin, I recall that you would answer our questions in exchange for a private discussion with your friend, correct?" Ozpin effortlessly pointed while holding his coffee cup.

"Correct." The prison guard responded.

"Hmm...first question. What is Nova Prospekt? I noticed those two words on both of your uniforms."

A moment of silence took place followed by a heavy sigh coming from Ronin.

"Nova Prospekt...is a prison. We work there as prison guards and Samantha here is a section leader sergeant. I am just a specialist."

"Interesting...what do you do there?"

"Detain citizens that could pose a threat to our leaders. We prison guards often use brutality and torture methods to extract the information we need but if that isn't enough, we call in our police officers, and I have to say...they could get very creative during interrogations." Ronin explained with a cold response, slightly smiling at the experiences he had with metropolice officers at Nova Prospekt.

Ozpin slightly glanced over at Samantha, seeing her slightly regurgitate but swallowed it shaking. He then eyed Glynda who was standing behind them lightly trembling at the last part of what Ronin said. After what he saw at the police station, Ozpin wondered what other horrible things he is capable of.

"Sounds like an interesting place." Ozpin sarcastically said. "Do you mind telling me where this Nova Prospekt is?"

"It's in Europe." Ronin said. "But I figured that you would not know what that is."

"Why is that?"

Ronin straightened out his face.

"After some time getting here, I noticed the moon was shattered and how clean the city Vale was. It was too clean, given the callous nature of my leaders. I also noticed how some civilians were walking at night time and judging from my past experiences, there was a curfew that if the civilians did not follow, there would be immediate judgment. These civilians were walking around without fear or anxiety. Not to mention, that I haven't seen a single glimpse or a slight presence of...the government I work with. I concluded that I was not on Earth anymore."

"Earth?"

"The planet I live on. My homeworld. It's where Europe is."

"...You mentioned leaders, a government? They are present on Earth?"

"Yes they are, however, I learned that Earth was disappointingly wasn't one of my leader's original homeworld's due to the war."

"The war?"

"T-The Seven Hour War, Professor Ozpin." Samantha nervously joined in on the conversation.

"What is this war?" Ozpin asked, now eyeing her with his hands clamped together in interest while Glynda stood carefully listening.

"The, uh...Seven Hour War, as the name suggests, that all of Earth's native military forces were ultimately defeated by the invading Universal Union in no more than seven hours."

"Were you in this war?"

"Yes, but I was very young...I was lucky when they transported my family and me to one of their cities."

"You were transported to a city?"

"All that's left of the humans on Earth were relocated to several cities, and I went to one that has the Union's base of operations..."

A bitter frown came over her face.

"I wanted to protect my family, so I enlisted in the ranks. Eventually, my seemingly permanent career has led me here with h-him." The prison shotgunner faintly pointed at Ronin.

Ozpin saw the sorrowful appearance of the mysterious soldier and decided to move to another subject of their conversation.

"So you two work for the Universal Union?"

"Yes, or you can call what proletarians call them, the Combine." Ronin answered. "A vast, powerful empire that enslaves thousands of worlds and dimensions for technology, resources, and power. Its fueled by totalitarianism."

Ozpin and Glynda's eyes widened at the mysterious soldier's answer. Ronin felt the fear settling in, and decided to ease the atmosphere.

"Don't worry, I got a few connections that will ensure your survival. If they ever come here." Ronin ensured with a fake smile.

"...Since you two will be professors here at Beacon Academy, I will provide you a home to stay in." Ozpin continued. "And I will deal with the police about your...incident."

"Thank you." The prison guard duo said in unison.

"Oh, and my I please have my firearms back?" Ronin asked.

"Oh yes, Glynda please return his weapons back." Ozpin commanded.

Glynda cautiously handed Ronin back with a slightly disgusted frown while Ronin displayed a smug smile. Ozpin then handed Samantha the keys to their new house while the duo waved farewell to the two headmasters.

"Farewell, Professor Ozpin." Ronin said with a smile as he pushed the elevator button. As soon as the doors closed, his smile vanished.

"So, that Ozpin guy...he's nice huh?" Samantha commented.

"Give me your uniform." Ronin suddenly asked.

"W-Why?"

"I will bring your belongings to the house. You will return to NOPR to obtain anything of importance."

"Ok, but what will you do?"

Ronin glanced at his burnt kevlar uniform.

"Oh."

"I will try to fix this...so you are a family person?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Why are you so worried about them? You are part of the Union, and not to mention you are a section leader sergeant. Your family cohesion is always preserved." Ronin said softly, with no hint of hostility, but rather compassion.

As the elevator reached the ground and the door opened, all signs of kindness were lost.

"Now hurry up! Get going!" Ronin yelled as he jogged to the entrance of Beacon Academy.

* * *

"This is ridiculous! Not only that we have a new murderous professor, we could have a problem that could be out of any one's hands!" Glynda complained.

"I trust that Ronin will responsibly deal with his leaders when the time comes." Ozpin calmly said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"He's nothing but evil! True evil! Can't you see it?!"

"He may be malicious, but not fully. There will be a time where he reveals his true self."

"What makes you say that?"

"Samantha. I theorize that she is the reason why he hasn't caused anything immense yet. Without her, he wouldn't have any reason to stop his heinous actions." Ozpin claimed, formally positioning himself in his chair.

Ozpin stared at Glynda's face, analyzing it to see a hint of agreement on her expression.

"You know its true. Her presence, the way she acts...it could remind people like Ronin of their humanity."

"I hope you're right." Glynda blurted out.

* * *

_**Remnant; Vale; NOPR**_

Samantha was back at the old, run-downed warehouse. She walked over several meters of broken glass to reach a fence, consumed by the local flora that surrounds it. Watching where her hands go, she avoided the glass and lifted the bottom of the fence to barely crawl under it. She explored the outside of the warehouse for a bit, eventually reaching a boarded-up window. The shotgunner used the stock of her shotgun to breach the opening, resulting in a large cloud of dust to exit making her cough before she hastily entered. Its interior was the same as before with its deteriorating walls showing the rotting iron support frames. She remembers some parts of the warehouse due to her odd awakening to find her friend, so it was almost easy navigating through. After some time, she heard loud noises and multiple footsteps around one corner. She approached the corner, finding out that it wasn't Ronin this time, but a group of people. Samantha decides to eve drop on one of the mysterious voices.

"Any idea what this is?"

"Not a clue. A rifle?" One of the voices questioned as he squeezes one of the odd triggers on the weapon.

A loud whirring can be heard. It produced a mix of orange and white lights that illuminated the room while making the muzzle of the rifle extremely hot. It was erratically charging up.

"W-What did you do?"

"I-I don't know!" the voice said as he dropped the weapon, holding his sizzling burnt hand.

"Watch o-AHHHH!"

A large unstable electric ball rapidly came out of the rifle, ricocheting off the wall to hit one of the men, who instantly turned into a floating black burnt mass before forming into nothing more than a pile of ash.

"What the fuck?!"

The small party tried to evade the unpredictable bouncing orb but proven useless as most of them were unfortunately disintegrated into dust. The orb's erratic movement decayed, hitting the hall one last time before leaving a burnt mark on the wall. Samantha, knowing that the odd group as dazed by the sudden attack goes to the offense. She sprinted toward the nearest person, hitting him in the head with the barrel of the shotgun and then fired upon his head which exploded into many bloody pieces. The rest of the surviving group drew out their dust rifles and began firing, but fortunately, the prison shotgunner used the dead body as a shield. She rushed towards them, placing the shotgun on her back for her to draw out a pistol. Samantha fired rounds into several intruders in the leg as she pushed the body into one of them, allowing her to roundhouse him. Disarmed, she grabbed his arm and held it into an armlock.

"Sorry about this." Samantha grunted as she dislocated his arm, and lowered him enough where she could release him and front kick him into the cement.

The remaining hostiles, grunting in pain, were getting ready to fire upon her until she kicked them down and stomped on their throats while firing multiple rounds into their heads, killing them instantly.

"Ah shit." the prison shotgunner sighed as her white button shirt is stained in blood as well as the entire room. "I hope I can wash this off..."

Samantha glanced at one of the corpses, spotting something odd about it. The body wore a mask. In fact, all of the bodies had masks. Interested, she tore a piece of fabric from one of the deceased and roughly tugged the mask off, cleaning it. Even though it was still faintly red, she could see a good view of what it is. The mask was mainly grey supporting what looks to be a pair of fangs. It also had two pairs of slits on each side supported by a vertical dark gray stripe.

"Hmm...looks interesting."

The prison shotgunner placed the mask into a bag along with other things such as the makeshift ceiling cameras and several leftover munitions that she and her partner didn't take with them.

"Ouch!" Samantha whimpered as yanked her hand away from the still blazing pulse-rifle. "Augh...oof...Overwatch, remove NOPR's coordinates from digital map."

_"Attention stabilization team leader Ranger One: NOPR coordinates has been terminated."_

* * *

_**Remnant; Vale; New NOPR**_

"This should be it?" Samantha wondered as she stood in front of a house.

While the shotgunner was in the warehouse, Ronin was able to visually download a route to their new home. The two-story house is mainly white and rectangular, with the inclusion of a large patio and a backyard. The roof from the second floor consumed the first-floor roof, resulting in it being very steep. She spotted a chimney. Samantha simply opened the patio gate and walked to the front door, knocking on it. No answer. She knocked again. Again, there was no answer. She looked at the door handle and tugged it, realizing that it was unlocked.

"Well, if this is my new home, I guess I don't need to knock." she mentally concluded as she entered the house.

The smell of fresh furniture suddenly hit her, taking her back. The new home was so clean in fact that stepping into it could make the whole place dirty. The shotgunner placed the bag by the front door and began wandering around. She quite enjoyed the quiet ambiance and since most of the walls were large glass window panes, she could help but sit at one of the chairs and stare into the green backyard. Samantha took a deep breath and closed her eyes, faintly falling asleep.

A loud electrical fizzle filled the room, suddenly waking her. She quickly stood to her feet, slightly tilting her head to see what or who produced the sound. Samantha briefly looked back at the chair to see that it has been stained by blood due to her shirt.

"Aw, man!"

More of the odd noises were heard, seemingly getting louder and louder. She followed the sounds which eventually lead to the garage where she saw a man with a welder working on something.

"Ro-Ronin?"

"Oh, hello Ranger One." Ronin briefly turned his head to welcome her.

"What are you doing?" Samantha wondered as she looked over his shoulder.

She saw a pile of small metal parts next to what looks to be a crudely, welded Overwatch helmet.

"Is that your mask?"

"Yes it is, and I'm trying to restore it."

"I don't think you can restore that, I mean look at it! It's like really deformed-wait, what happened to your gas mask?"

"Like my vest, the blonde used her weapon against me and resulted in my mask being completely destroyed. I managed to gather whatever that was left and brought it here."

"Oh...well, I could ask that Ozpin guy for an engineer and then ask him for a copy of my mask." the shotgunner suggested.

"No. I don't trust anyone other than the Union to produce any military-related equipment." Ronin harshly said, swiveling his chair to fully face her. He examined her appearance. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"Oh, I...ran into a little skirmish."

"Wait, don't tell me that you enga-"

"No no no, look. I went to NOPR and there were a couple of guys..."

Ronin firmly straighten himself up on the chair.

"They were checking our things out and eventually one of them triggered the secondary on your pulse rifle which resulted in their...deaths."

"..."

"There were leftover survivors and I had to dispose of them fast so I could come back to you a quickly as possible."

"Samantha...get some rest. The sun is setting. Today has been a long day. Put whatever you brought onto the table."

"Ah, affirmative. Ronin?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to...walk around Vale? See what they have?"

"...Fine, but let's keep a low profile. I want to minimize contact with the surviving law enforcement." Ronin grunted as he sees Samantha run in the house and back into the garage with the bag, carefully placing it on the table.

The duo headed for the door, with the prison guard locking it behind him. The garage was silent with the exception of its light, silently humming. Then, Samantha's detached mask radio went off, producing an intense radio static, before eventually, the Overwatch AI within started to make a short broadcast.

_"Attention stabilization team leader Ranger One: Rank hierarchy is compromised. Detecting alternative authority: Elite One."_

* * *

**It has been a long time, hasn't it? My deepest apologies. Of course, as the ending suggests, Captain Mundy and the Combine will appear in the next chapter, making the next one longer than usual.**


End file.
